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Premier rules out holding Australian F1 GP under lights

Gene Simmons of the rock group Kiss performs on stage after the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia, on Sunday. PHOTO: EPA

The Australian Grand Prix won't be held under lights, despite comments from Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone that the race needs a floodlit future.

Yesterday, Victorian Premier John Brumby ruled out a night race, but said his government would do "everything possible" to keep the Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne.

Last week, in an interview published in London's Mail on Sunday, Ecclestone tied the future of the race to it being held at night.

"The only way the race could stay in Melbourne, or anywhere else in Australia, is if it is staged during the night so that the public in Europe can watch it," Ecclestone said. "The alternative is to pull the race completely from Australia."

Sunday's race started 90 minutes later than last year -- at 3:30pm local time -- to offer a better viewing time for Asian fans, but Ecclestone said the move was not enough to guarantee the future of the race in Australia after its F1 contact expires in 2010.

Formula 1 newcomer Singapore will stage the first night Grand Prix this season in September, but Australian organizers maintain that night time racing at the temporary track at Albert Park is not viable.

The Australian GP has been part of the F1 circuit for 23 years, 12 at Albert Park on the edge of downtown Melbourne.

Brumby said yesterday that the prospect of a 10am Sunday race -- Saturday night in Europe -- has also been raised.

"We'll take whatever steps are reasonable and whatever steps are practical to keep the event. We'd like to keep the event, that's what we want to do -- I've made no secret of that," Brumby said. "There won't be a night Grand Prix and I don't think we need to hold a night Grand Prix."

Brumby said Asian television audiences were increasing and could overtake Europe as the biggest F1 spectator market in the future.

"I think there's going to be a lot of viewers in our time zone," Brumby said. "Yesterday the race went into Europe early in the morning, we'll look at other times but there won't be a night Grand Prix."
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